Port St. Lucie, FL. - Florida Atlantic University's men's golf team began play in the Treasure Coast WTC Hero's Classic hosted by St. John's University on Thursday afternoon with a seventh place finish. The Owls are only 16 strokes behind the leader while Matt Anderson finished one under par for third place overall at the par 72, 6581-yard course.

Anderson, a senior from Tallahassee, FL, fired the second lowest nine-hole total with a score of 35 on the front nine while shooting a back nine total of 36. This marked the third time in four tournaments that Anderson finished in the top 10 after the first round. Scott Kennedy opened up the tournament with a front nine score of 37 and back nine score of 39 to put himself in 26th place. Joel Gibbons shot a 40 on the front nine before finding his stroke on the back with a 37. Nicolai Syvertsen shot an opening round 82 while junior Tarik Benslimane shot an 85 in his first tournament of the season.

FAU fired a team round of 306 and is only 16 strokes behind leader Bethune-Cookman College (290). FloridaGulf Coast University (292), Liberty University (294), Navy A Team (302), Nova Southeastern University (302) and Guilford College (302) round out the top six. There are no other Atlantic Sun Conference schools participating.

FAU will continue play in the Treasure Coast WTC Hero's Classic on Friday, March 14.